We are a Youth and Community centre for all young people inclusive of all genders, race and abilities between the ages of 6 to 25.
As you can see from our history below we have been offering the young people of Burnley a safe and welcoming environment for many years. Providing positive activities to develop our users into responsible adults.
We are by far the largest centre in the area offing activities such as football, cricket, tennis, archery, air rifle shooting, badminton, snooker, pool, table tennis, indoor bowls, computers, dancing, arts and craft, residentials, karaoke, basketball and many different types of project work like decorating skills, car maintenance, cooking, and web design to name just a few. In our purpose built premises on Barden lane.
All our staff and volunteers are trained in youth work and the art of advising and developing our members through their youth into adulthood by building trust relationships and providing safe and meaningful activities for our members.
Our association with Lancashire Young Peoples Services ensures that all our policies and procedures meet nationally recognised standards in health & safety and child protection etc.
For more information, please contact our club.
History
The Burnley Boys Club has a history dating back to 1899. Originally called Burnley Lads Club, catering for boys from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Many of the original members of the club fell in the first World War serving with the famous “Accrington Pals” along with the clubs first leader Capt Riley.
In 1968 the Lads club merged with the Police youth club, to create Burnley Boys Club. The merger enabled the two groups to pool their recourses and membership, which now included girls.
From 1968 to 1990 the club was based in Colne Road, continuing its work mainly with the youth of the area around sport and social education. As the reputation grew so did the membership, and in the late eighties it was evident that we needed to move to bigger premises to be able to cater for the increased demand and extend our services to the wider community.
In February 1990 we moved to what is our present home on Barden Playing Fields, this purpose built two level center was seen as an ideal venue to continue the work we had been delivering, but more importantly gave us the opportunity to extend our work into the wider community.
New groups were formed from Mums and Toddlers, Disability groups, After School club, through to Senior citizens groups. These new groups combined with the existing youth groups and Old Boys Association, who continue their involvement in adulthood. Ensured we was fully engaging the whole community and led to what has become our motto “From the cradle to the grave”.
We have over the years worked and become affiliated with many groups and organisations, both locally and nationally including Lancashire County Council, National Association of Clubs For Young People, Rotary, Lions, Sure Start, East Lancs Deaf, YOT and many local schools, to name just a few. This networking has enabled all parties to share membership opportunities, resources and good practice.
Over the past fifteen years we have been constantly looking at different ways in which we can offer services to the community and have added to the original building in the way of larger storage space, All weather pitch, two minibuses and Community Hall. Making this one of the largest centers of its type within Lancashire.
All what we have achieved over the years as come about through the foresight and determination of the people involved. Being a registered charity means we have to raise all our running and improvement costs ourselves. We have become expert fundraiser's and very professional at putting together grant applications.
The center is run by a Management Committee made up of all the different groups within the center, ex members and local people keen to help. All the members have the same voting rites whether they are representing a group or are the club leader. This has ensured that all members feel that they have a voice in the organisation and how it runs.
Most of the members of the committee have been associated with the club for many years, so have a good understanding of how it works, this combined with views and ideas from new members of the committee ensure we keep things fresh and interesting.
Continuity is important within any organisation, with us it is no different. Many of the seven paid staff have come from being members of the club and can boast almost 150 years involvement. This loyalty is down to the close family atmosphere, which we promote during the sessions.